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S. H; LINN.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING AND TRANSPORTING FOOD.

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S. H. LINN.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING AND TRANSPORTING FOOD.

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llNtTED STATES ATiENT "Thrice.

SAMUEL H. LINN, OF ST. FETERSBURG, RUSSIA, 'AS SIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOROSEWELL G. ROLSTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING AND TRANSPORTING FOOD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 270,549, dated January9, 1853.

Application filed June 16, 1882. (No model.) Patented in FranceSeptember 22. 1880, No. 138,192; in Belgium September 30, 1880,

No. 52,548; in England Qctober 11 1880, No. 4 122; in Russia April 5,1881, No. 2,894, and in Germany July 15, 1881, No. 13,909.

To all whom it mag concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL HENRY LINN, nowresiding in St. Petersburg, in. the Empire of Russia, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Method of and Apparatus for Preserving andTransporting Food, which improvement is fully set forth in the followingspecification.

This invention relates to the preservation and transportation of meats,vegetables, and other articles of food in store-rooms, or duringtransportation in vessels or railway-cars; and it consists, first, inthe construction of the chambers for preserving the articles of food, sothat they may be little or not at all affected by outside ten) eraturesecondly, in the method and means of circulating air through thechamber; thirdly, in the method of and apparatus for drying, cooling,purifying, and in certain cases warming the air to be circulated throughthe chambers; and,fourthl y, in the special arrangement and constructionof theapparatusemployed, as hereinaftermore fully set forth.

The accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification,illustrate the invention as embodied ina railway carriage or car.

Figure 1 is a horizontal longitudinal section of a railway-car; Fig.2, alongitudinal "ertical section of same on line A A, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, atransverse section, looking right of lineB B, Fig. 1; Fig. 4, atransverse section, looking left of line B B, Fig. 1; Fig. 5, a sectionon lines 0 G G C, Fig. 1,; and Fig. 6, details of sides of wagon or car.4

. The walls of the wagon, or at least those of the compartment 1, aremade double. They may be constructed of wood oriron, wood, however,being preferable, as being a worse conductor of heat. The outer wall, 2,(see Fig. 6,) is covered on its outer face with a suitable paint, beingin a high degree impermeable to air and dampness. For this purpose Ipreferably use a paint known in the trade under the name of J ohnsWater-Proof Asbestus Paint. The internal face of this wall 2 is coveredwith a putty composed of bitumen dissolved in alcohol, the object ofwhich is to close the pores of the wood,and then this face is lined witha layer of felt, 3, which is kept in place partially by the putty andpartially by flat-headed copper nails. The external face of the insidewall, 5, is lined with a layer of a suitable non-conducting material,kept in place, likethe layer of felt, by means of putty and coppernails, while the internal face of this wall-that is to say, that whichpresents itself to the interior of the compartment lis covered with zincor lead plates. The substance with which the external face of the wall 5is lined is composed of a mixture of pulverized cork, talc, and sulphur,with rubher, and can be had in the trade all ready for use.

The space between the walls 2 and5 is filled in with a mixture of talcand kaolin. These substances must be well calcined and pulverized. Equalparts of the same are well mixed together, and this product is rammedfirmly into the said space. The ceiling and bottom of the wagon or carare also constructed in the manner described, as well as the doors 7.The latter are provided with any suitable arrangement whereby anair-tight closing may be obtained.

In order to maintain in the compartment 1 a completely pure and dry air,but charged with a preservative substance and of a uniform temperature,I make use of the following arrangements The compartment 8 of the wagon,which is separated from the compartment 1, contains on one sideacomplete apparatus for com pressing, cooling, and dry-ing the air, andfor charging it with ozone or with a preservative substancesuch assalicylic acid or any otherantisepticand on the other sidea hot-waterheating apparatus, by means of which thccompartment 1 can be heated.

The apparatus for compressing the air consists of tworeceptacles orreservoirs, 11, connected by pipes 10 with asmall hand-pump, 9. One ofthese receptacles is filled with water. It will be seen that if thiswater is, by means of the pump, forced out of this receptacle into theother receptacle the air in this latter will be compressed. When one ofthese receptacles has thus been emptied and the other filled, theoperation is reversed by changing the position of the cooks ofthe pumps,and the described operation is repeated in the opposite direction. Thesmall air-valves 13, permit the entrance of fresh air into thereceptacle which is being emptied. By opening the cock 12, which unitesthe two pipes 10, and consequently the two receptacles 11, the differentpressures existing in the two receptacles may be equalized, if desired.Both receptacles are provided with a pressure-gage, 14. At the top ofthe receptacles 11 are adapted the pipes 15, provided with cocks, andwhich terminate in the common pipe which leads into the lower part ofthe ice-chamber 17. The air traverses this ice-chamber in the upwarddirection, which causes it to be cooled to the desired de' gree, andfrom thence it arrives, through the tube 18, in thelower part of thefirst one of the receptacles 19. This first receptacle 19 is nearlyfilled with ordinary sulphuric acid as found in the market, while thesecond one is filled with pure sulphuric acid. From the upper part ofthe first of these receptacles 19 a pipe leads into the lower part ofthe second one, (see Fig. 3,) so that the air is compelled to rise in astate of fine division through the sulphuric acid contained in these tworeceptacles, whereby I obtain the purification of the air and the nearlycomplete absorption of the moisture it contains. From the secondreceptacle 19 the air thus purified enters into the box 21, which isfilled with well-calcined kaolin, and in its passage through thesubstance it loses its last trace of moisture and arrives finallycompletely cooled, purified, and dry, through the pipe 22 in the firstof the three receptacles 23, which contains salicylic acid, and whichreceptacles are connected with each other by pipes. As the air iscompelled to rise successively in these three receptacles from thebottom to the top, traversing thus the salicylic acid, it becomesimpregnated with this preservative substance and arrives in this state,through the pipe 24, in the chamber 25, from whence it may be admittedas required, by opening the valve 26, into the compartment 1, when it isdesired to lower the temperature therein. hen ozone is used to purifythe air and impart to it preservative properties the salicylic acid neednot be employed. The methods of generating ozone are well understood andneed not be described. Any convenient method may be employed. The ozonemay be added to the air in the desired quantities from a suitable tankor reservoir before the air passes into the provision-chamber.

The hot-water heatingapparatusis auxiliary to the cooling apparatus,andis arranged to be brought into operation when the temperature ofcompartment 1 becomes too low. It consists in a furnace, 27, of suitableconstruction,

in the combustion-chamber of which are arranged one or more coils, 28,from which branch off in the well-known manner the heatingpipes 30,which run along the bottom of the compartment 1, and which are fed withwater coming from the reservoir 29.

The control of the temperature is effected by the self-actingthermometers, or reservoirs of air affected by temperature, whichcontrol the valves of admission of the air to the chambers, as also thevalves of exit, if required.

In the compartmentl are arranged metallic or electric thermometers 31,which serve to indicate, by m cans of condncti ng-wires connected withthe dials 32, and with suitable acoustic signals, when the temperaturerises above or sinks below the desired degree; or the apparatus may bemade automatic by the expanding volume of mercury or air by any of thewell-known apparatus.

The surplus of old air produced by the admission of fresh, purified, andcooled air escapes through the fines or pipes 33, which are preferablyprovided with light flap-valves.

In a wagon or car constructed according to the above directions allsorts of food may be transported at any time of the year and in everyclimate to any desired distance without the risk of deterioration,because in consequence of my system it is rendered possible to keep thearticles constantly surrounded by air adapted to the circumstances, ofsuitable temperature, and perfectly purified and impregnated with apreservative substance.

Although a railway carriage may contain the whole necessary apparatus,it will be found more convenient in many cases to have one carriage,called the operating-car, constructed tohold the apparatus either forforcing the air, the ice for cooling, or the furnace for heating, andthe air purifying, drying, or impregnating apparatus, and from thence todistribute the air to the carriages containing the articles of food, thecarriages being coupled by suitable air-pipes and connecting with theoperating-car.

Many modifications may be made in the details of this invention withoutdeviating from the general and essential principles upon which it isbased.

Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the saidinvention and the manner of carrying the same into effect, what I claimis- 1. The method of treating air, for the purposes specified, bycausing the same to pass through an ice-box, next in a state of finedivision through vessels containing sulphuric acid, which purifies andpartly deprives it of moisture, then through kaolin, which removes theremaining moisture, and finally through one or more vessels containingsalicylic acid, with which it becomes impregnated, substantially asdescribed.

2. In combination with the provision-chamber of a refrigerator-car, aseparate chamber or car containing an air-pump, an ice-box, receptaclescontaining an absorbent medium, and

vessels containing preservative agents such as specified, said pump andreceptacles being connected by pipes leading finally to saidprovision-chamber, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a refrigerator car or chamber, of the air-forcingapparatus, the icebox, the receptacles containing sulphuric acid, thechamber containing kaolin, the vessel or vessels containing a suitableantisepticsucb as salicylic acid-and the pipes or air-passagesconnecting said chambers or receptacles and leading finally to theprovision-chamber, substantially as described.

4. A refrigerator car or chamber constructed as described, and providedwith an air-pump, pipes connected with said pump for conducting the airsuccessively through an ice-chamber, a moisture-absorbent medium,vessels containing preservative agents, and finally deliveringittotheprovision chamber,and provided, also, with a heater and connectionsfor supplying hot air at will to said chamber, whereby the desiredtemperature therein can be readily obtained, substantially as described.

5. A refrigerator car having a provisionchamber,in. combination with aseparate car or chamber containing apparatus, substantially asspecified, for supplying thereto air which has been previously cooled,deprived of moisture, and charged with preservativeageut, and also withan auxiliary heating apparatus for admitting hot air to said provisionchamber, as and for the purpose set forth.

6. The method of treating air, for preserving articles of food, bycooling it by contact with ice, drying by passing through an absorbentmedium-such as kaolin-and charging it with ozone, substantially asdescribed.

7. A refrigerator car or chamber having double wood walls, the outerwall covered with a putty, as described, and lined with a layer ofnon-conducting materia1such as felt-the inner wall beingsimilarlyprotected, and the space between the two walls filled with talc andkaolin, calcined and pulverized, as set forth.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesscs.

SAMUEL HENRY LINN.

Witnesses:

BENJ- F. LINN, WILLIAM GoHL.

